Spain's National Parks Network Council has proposed the creation of the country's first exclusively marine national park, the Mar de las Calmas, located off the southwest coast of El Hierro, here in the Canary Islands.
The proposal was put forward during the Council’s 27th session, held on Tuesday at the Ministry for Ecological Transition in Madrid. The session was chaired by Hugo Morán, Secretary of State for the Environment, and focused on advancing the protection of nationally significant natural areas.
The Mar de las Calmas, covering over 24,000 hectares of the Canary Marine Demarcation, is renowned for its exceptional ecological and scientific value.
Conservation groups, including WWF, Ecologistas en Acción, and SEO/BirdLife, welcomed the proposal, calling it “a long-awaited milestone” and a vital step in ensuring the National Parks Network reflects the full diversity of Spain’s natural systems.
“If everything proceeds as expected, the park could be officially declared within a year,” said Asunción Ruiz, Executive Director of SEO/BirdLife. She stressed, however, that the national park approval process is complex and time-consuming.
Biodiversity Hotspot
The area is home to an extraordinary variety of marine life. Deep-sea, tropical, and subtropical species coexist just off the island’s coast, including photophilic algae, submarine caves, cetaceans, marine turtles, corals, and glass sponges. It’s also a critical habitat for seabirds like the osprey, Cory’s shearwater, and the endangered Macaronesian shearwater.
One of the world’s most important communities of beaked whales (ziphiids) inhabits the region, alongside rays, sharks, and, in a recent sighting, a whale shark.
The push to protect the Mar de las Calmas as a national park began in 2017. After years of environmental assessments and advocacy, the proposal reached the Spanish Council of Ministers last August, where it received initial approval.
Should it be formally declared, Mar de las Calmas would become Spain’s first national park comprised solely of marine territory, a significant move in global marine conservation.
Environmental advocates see this as a landmark achievement, positioning Spain at the forefront of protecting fragile underwater ecosystems and addressing the urgent need to preserve biodiversity in the face of climate change.
